


Out of the Box

by Amahami



Category: Daredevil (TV), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (hydra and the red room did all the bad stuff), (irrelevant here but important), Age Regression/De-Aging, Aromantic Natasha Romanov, Autistic Natasha Romanov, Bed-Wetting, Blind Character, Dad Bucky Barnes, Dad Clint Barton, Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injured Clint Barton, Little Natasha Romanov, Men in Dresses, Mentions of an explosion, Mostly Natasha's POV, No Sexual Content, Non-Sexual Age Play, Phobias, Selectively Mute Character, Steve is bad with children, Trans Loki (Marvel), Uncle Tony Stark, autistic matt murdock, bodily autonomy is respected, brother Matt Murdock, brother Peter Parker, children having fun, coerced medical procedures, cursing, everyone's queer, happy Matt Murdock, happy Natasha Romanov, implied/referenced childhood sexual assault, kid's eating habits, little Matt Murdock, mostly - Freeform, no romantic content, nsap, threats of hospitalisation, tony is obsessed with accessibility, trans woman loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-08-26 06:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16676542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amahami/pseuds/Amahami
Summary: (age regression fic. No kink-related anything; these are just the terms AO3 has on-file.)After a car explodes close to Clint, Natalia ages down fast. She needs her papa (who is fine, by the way). She’s much smaller than normal.The following day, Matty (Matt Murdock) comes over to play, and they throw a party before playing in the Avenger’s Gym.There's lots of fun abound, but some angst too. References to some difficult shit. The coerced medical procedure is the re-stitching of an injury.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to [shilo1364](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shilo1364) and [ketchupcrisp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ketchupcrisp) for betaing this fic! I highly recommend both of their work.
> 
> This work is completely written and beta'd; it is only the chapter breaks that needs figuring out.
> 
> Natalia is usually 2 or 3-ish, but when she’s under immense stress (and not in danger), she can go under 1.
> 
> Matt is 7-ish.
> 
> I only use a handful of Russian throughout the fic, so the relevant chapters will have translations of words.
> 
> Example word = pronunciation = translation
> 
> Да = da = yes
> 
> бубу = booboo = baba (baby talk for bottle. Russian for bottle is бутылочк (both baby and otherwise, far as I can tell). Idk if it's an Actual Russian Thing, but I figured bottle > baba, makes sense)
> 
> нет = nyet = no

It had been a long day, and Clint had ruined another hearing aid. That made, what, six total this year? It was only May.

Pepper was going to _kill_ him. Tony was going to get all excited about redesigning a new one, and she wouldn’t see him for a while. Again.

It wasn’t his fault this time! Really! It was Cap’s! He’d flung his shield at an escaping vehicle and punctured its gasline, which caused it to blow up.

He was fine. Until he saw Pepper.

But Clint was fucking _exhausted._ The battle had been in its beginning stages when Cap’d blown that car up, so Clint had been off-balance and unable to hear anything besides gunshots and explosions (and that one kid’s car radio) for the rest of the _hour and a half_ the battle had raged on.

He didn’t care what anyone else said; next time there was a rumour that Hydra was working with anyone else, he was calling in backup.

Sure, the Avengers _could_ take on several dozen soldiers, miscellaneous monsters, and whatever weapons they had that day, but at what cost?

He sighed as he sank down onto his couch. Lip-reading was exhausting. And he got the privilege to lip-read everyone for three hours, while trying to kill or maim the enemies _and_ keep himself alive, and _then_ participating in the debrief.

He didn’t _mind_ doing it, it was just fucking exhausting.

He was also too wobbly to shower, and with the stitches in his calf, he shouldn’t be sitting in water. So he relaxed against the couch and let himself melt into it, intending to stay there, in his disgusting clothes, for the rest of the night.

He was just starting to doze off when his lights flickered. He groaned and heaved himself and trudged to his door. He was fully prepared to “accidentally” yell at whoever was on the other side of that door, but when he opened it, his face softened and he just opened his door wider.

Natalia clumsily walked in, scuffing her feet along.

Once Clint closed the door, she turned to him and signed, “You’re dirty. Need to shower.”

Clint shook his head. “Explosion fucked my balance. Can’t shower yet.”

Natalia pouted before pulling out her StarkPhone. She tapped at it for a moment before she got frustrated and pouted at it.

Words lit up along the wall, presumably as JARVIS spoke. “Agent Romanoff, I can send a message to Tony for you, if you wish.”

Natalia nodded her head very fast. “Please,” she signed.

A moment later, JARVIS flashed Tony’s response on the wall: “On my way.”

Clint stomped his heel against the floor until Natalia turned to him, questioning eyebrows raised.

“What’s going on?” he asked her.

“Tony’s bringing shower chair,” she replied. “You’re disgusting.”

Clint shot her a look that showed _exactly_ how pleased he was with her, and the lights flashed again. Natalia turned and opened the door for Tony to come in.

Tony set a fancy shower chair down in front of the couch and turned to Clint. He signed, “You need this more than I do. Leg isn’t broken anymore.” He smirked.

Clint just sighed. “Thanks.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll watch Natasha while you shower.”

Clint nodded gratefully, then turned to Natalia to make sure it was okay with her. She just nodded her head, so Clint walked away and headed into the shower.

Once Clint was sufficiently clean and dressed, he headed back into the living room. Tony was on the floor playing Chutes and Ladders with Natalia, and Nat’s hair was in two perfect plaits, with Piglet elastics tying them off.

“Papa!” Natalia signed as she yelled, excited. 

“Sweetheart, my little girl,” he replied, equally excited.

“Want hug!” she said, getting up and stumbling, catching herself on Tony’s shoulder. She toddled her way over to Clint, and wrapped her arms around his torso. 

Clint grinned, happy his baby was in his arms. He kissed her head and led her to the couch, wishing he could pick her up. Natalia was five foot seven inches of muscle, and he was an unenhanced human.

She was happy enough to be led, though, and she cuddled right up to Clint on the couch.

Tony waved his hand to get Clint’s attention before asking, “Do you need me, or can I go?”

“Food, maybe? Please?”

Tony grinned. “Already ordered your usual post-battle dinner from that Korean place you love. Should be here any time. It’ll be left outside your door by an SI employee.”

Clint sighed contentedly, pulling Natalia closer to him. “Thank you.”

Tony waved his thanks away as he got up. “Natasha,” he signed as he spoke, “Be good for Papa, okay?”

Natalia grinned widely. “Of course! Always good!” 

Tony snorted, leaving Clint’s apartment.

As soon as he was gone, Natalia pulled away from Clint just far enough that he could see her sign, “ _So_ scared. Thought you were gonna die! You can’t die! Promised no dying before me. But I was scared! Big explosion, and-” her hands stalled as she began to cry in earnest, body shaking too much to form coherent signs.

Clint pulled her to him tightly and said, using his voice, “Oh, darling...” He waited a few moments before continuing, trying to comfort his baby girl, “Papa’s sorry he scared you. He didn’t mean to. It’s okay. I’m here. I’m okay. Put your ear to my chest, listen to my heart beating. I’m alive and I’m okay. I promise.”

Natalia didn’t move from Clint for a moment, then turned to face him, tears and snot running down her blotchy face. She leaned over a bit and rested her ear against Clint’s chest.

After a moment of hearing his heart beating, strong and steady, her sobs died down into crying.

Clint just held her, telling her how much he loved her, that everything was okay, that they were safe, and he’d take care of her.

A while later, when she was down to the occasional hiccup and sniffle, the doorbell flashed. Clint carefully got up.

“I’ll be right back. I’m just going to the door, and you’ll be able to see me from here. I’m just getting our dinner, okay?” he checked in with her in sign.

Natalia nodded, pouting. Clint nodded in response and went to get their dinner. There was nobody in sight, just a few reusable bags on the floor.

Clint couldn’t find a way to pick them up that didn’t pull on his stitches, so he called Natalia over.

“Put these bags on the table for me, sweetheart?” he asked her.

Natalia nodded and easily picked the bags up and deposited them on the dinner table.

Clint went to pull out the food when he saw a gift box labelled for Natasha.

“Natty” Clint sang terribly. Natasha came running over, tripping over her feet and toppling into the table.

“What?” she asked him excitedly. Clint nodded towards the package. Once Natalia saw it was addressed to her, her entire body lit up. She tore into the paper and then the box.

She gasped when she got the box open. She delicately pulled the big black onesie out. It had little cartoon Hawkeyes all over it. There was a pair of soft purple sweatpants underneath it.

“Gift from you?” she asked Clint, who shook his head.

“Not me. I think it was Tony. You want to get changed?”

Natalia nodded her head excitedly. Clint grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to help steady her as they walked into her bedroom. It was light purple and had a big racecar bed in it.

Clint reached into the top drawer of her dresser and removed a pull-up. Natalia frowned but elected not to comment.

“Sweetheart, I can’t lean down or get on the floor right now, so can you be a little bit bigger and put this on yourself, and your trousers over it?” He was going to at least _try_ to not rip his stitches out this time.

Natalia’s frown intensified into a pout, but she took the pull-up obligingly.

Once she had the pull-up on, Clint helped her into her onesie, though she had to do the snaps herself. Then she climbed into her trousers.

“All done!” Natalia said, standing up to her full height.

“Good girl. Let’s go eat.”

Natalia struggled with a fork, so when she gave in and asked for help, Clint happily took the fork from her.

“It’s hard to ask for help, but you did. You saw you were having trouble, so you asked me for help. I’m proud of you, sweetheart,” Clint signed before picking his chopsticks back up and getting a bite for Nat before holding it out in front of her mouth.

While Natalia was chewing, Clint took a bite of his own. And once they were done eating, the two went to the couch to cuddle, ignoring the abandoned game on the floor.

They watched Natalia’s favourite show, Mölang, for a little while. When Clint turned to look at his beautiful little girl, he saw she had her fingers in her mouth.

Clint leaned slowly and carefully to the side and opened the end table’s drawer. He pulled a Pocoyo adult pacifier out and removed the dust shield.

He wrapped an arm around Natalia and carefully removed her fingers, despite her upset whimpers. 

“I know baby,” he said aloud, “but sucking on your fingers is icky. I have your Pocoyo paci here just for you.” He gently replaced her fingers with said pacifier.

Natalia’s lips quirked upward slightly as she contentedly began to suck on it. After a few moments, she leaned over and patted Clint’s knee without looking over.

“Wanna watch Pocoyo now. Not Mölang. Pocoyo, see?” She signed, pointing to her pacifier.

Clint nodded and changed the TV to Pocoyo. Since Mölang didn’t really have any speech, he didn’t have to worry about paying attention to the captions. But with Pocoyo, if he wanted to keep up with it (which was the best course of action, since Natalia would undoubtedly quiz him later), he had to read the captions.

However, that meant that very little of his focus was on Natalia. It wasn’t until he smelled the acrid scent of urine that he even noticed she had fallen asleep. She must have soaked through her pull-up for him to smell it so strongly.

Nat only wet herself when she had a nightmare, and usually if Clint was there, she didn’t have any. So that was a first.

He counted backwards from ten slowly, while he considered his options. He really couldn’t bathe her right now, and she was going to be much littler than she normally was when she woke up. She always was after a nightmare.

That left very few options. Tony _was_ one, but he’d already helped today, and he was probably in the lab anyway, working on Clint’s new hearing aid.

Steve was probably too busy blaming himself to be of any use, and he was awkward with any kind of children besides. Bruce was passed out in the common living room, and would be until morning, when he’d eat a few servings of whatever was closest before passing out in his own apartment until afternoon.

Thor was far too loud, and off-planet besides, and Bucky- actually, Bucky would probably be perfect. After missions he always struggled and needed space, but Clint knew how close he and Nat were, both when she was big and little. He would probably make an exception for her.

There was also the bonus that he knew Russian, so if Nat woke up and needed Russian to be used, things would be okay. Without his ‘aid, Clint really couldn’t do much in the way of Russian, especially with regards to lip-reading.

Clint nodded decisively. He swiped his phone off the coffee table and noticed the time – nearly midnight, no wonder Natalia was passed out. Clint must have passed out too, since last he knew it was barely eight.

He texted Bucky: Nat had a nightmare and wet herself. No aid, so can’t communicate in Russian, and can’t clean her up. Help?

It only took a minute or two for Bucky to respond: omw [captain america shield]

Bucky quietly crept into the room quickly thereafter. When he saw Natalia and Clint cuddled on the couch, he allowed himself a soft smile before getting to work. 

“Who should wake her?” Bucky asked.

Clint sighed. “You, I think. If she’s upset, I won’t be able to understand her at all.”

Bucky just nodded before his face turned soft again, and he began to speak in what was presumably Russian.

A few seconds later, Natalia jerked upright, panicked, then immediately looked down at her lap. She wrapped her arms around her middle and folded herself together.

Bucky put his flesh hand near her upper arm, and waited until she nodded her consent to touch her. Then she fell into his arms and bawled.

Bucky nodded and rubbed her back, reassuring her as much as he could.

He slowly picked her up _(fucking serum)_ , but as soon as her feet left the ground, she began to thrash and scream loudly enough that Clint could actually hear her (not what she was saying, just that she was yelling). Bucky froze in a half-squat and looked to Clint. He jerked his head towards the bathroom. “Follow” Bucky’s lips said, clearly. 

Clint stood, and once Natalia could clearly see that Clint was up, Bucky fully stood up, Nat in his arms.

Natalia’s eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and her face was red. She was breathing with her mouth, and her lips were downturned. She kept a close and intense eye on him, making sure he was following them to the bathroom.

Clint sat himself down in the dry shower chair, turning it to face the bathtub. Bucky was speaking to Nat, and helped her get her onesie and trousers off.

When it came time to remove the soiled pull-up, however, she squirmed and tried to get away.

Bucky gently put his metal arm on her hip and locked eyes with her. He was presumably saying, in Russian, ‘I know you’re embarrassed. So am I. But if we don’t get you cleaned up, you’re going to get sick,’ like he always did when he helped with this.

Natalia whimpered, eyes filling again. She nodded to Bucky though, so he carefully removed it from her body. Once she was out of it, he smiled up at her from his position on the floor. He said something to her that made her giggle as he threw it out.

He turned to the bath and began running it with very warm water. He helped Nat into the bath and pulled her bath basket out from under the sink. 

Bucky let Natalia choose which special bubbles she wanted tonight, and she chose Pepper, a bubble recipe that stung a bit to help invigorate the bather.

She only chose that one when she didn’t want to go back to sleep. It was going to be a _long_ night.

Once Bucky poured a bit of the soap in, he pulled the basket up for Natalia to take some toys out. She pulled out her foam toys that stuck to the wall tile and her bath crayons. Bucky pulled out the rubber ducks that were modelled after himself, Natalia, and Clint, and put them in the bath water once Natalia gave the okay.

Once the bubbles were up to her naval, Bucky shut the water off. Clint was grateful they’d got as far as they had with the bath, and was so proud of Natalia for getting through this much.

Bucky pulled out a soft washcloth with Winnie the Pooh on it and negotiated the washing order with Natalia. Normally they’d wait until the bubbles went away to wash her, but since she’d wet herself, it was really important to get the urine scrubbed off her as soon as possible.

After several minutes of intense negotiating, Bucky gestured Clint over.

“Hold her hand,” he signed.

Clint smiled and took her hand. She didn’t look terrified, so there was that, but she didn’t look anywhere near happy or even neutral.

Bucky murmured an apology and slowly dipped the washcloth under the water in a gap in the bubbles, where Natalia could see. He narrated where he was and what exactly what he was doing as he cleaned her genitals.

She squirmed uncomfortably the whole time, squeezing Clint’s hand tight.

When Bucky was finished, he hung the wash cloth on the spout and sat back. Natalia understood the signal that he was done, and that she could go back to playing.

She watched Bucky suspiciously, but allowed Clint to go back to his seat so he could get off his bad leg. He could definitely feel where he’d stretched the stitches, though he was surprised they hadn’t torn yet.

Natalia drew some houses and a school, and played through several scenes with the foam figures.

Once the bubbles had all gone, Bucky took hold of the wash cloth again. He carefully scrubbed her legs and feet while holding her head and neck with his opposite hand, to keep them well above the water. Then he washed her torso, taking care to scrub under her breasts and arms, and then they were done.

Natalia put her toys back in the basket, the plug was pulled, and Bucky helped Natalia out of the bath and onto the fuzzy bath mat.

He wrapped her in a giant dark towel with a hood and dried her off quickly but gently.

Clint got up and led the two to Natalia’s bedroom. He pulled out a diaper while Natalia chose what pyjamas she wanted to change into. 

She decided on her soft black kitty pyjamas: another onesie with comfy trousers.

Clint handed everything over to Bucky, who looked ready for a fight with her when he leaned down to get Nat into it.

Natalia just allowed it, not commenting or even making a face. Once she was done up in her diaper and her onesie buttons secure, Bucky helped her up to get her pyjama bottoms on. She kept a tight grip on Bucky’s shoulder, wobbling considerably as she stepped into them.

Bucky put his metal hand on her waist very gently to help balance her.

Once she was dressed, she fell backwards onto her bed and raised her hands up to Bucky, silently requesting _up_.

Bucky smiled his softest smile, the one that only came out when he was around one of his favourite children, and picked Natalia up.

_Stupid ridiculous buff supersoldiers._

Clint was glad someone could pick Nat up, though. She loved being picked up.

Clint walked over to them and rubbed Natalia’s hair, gazing into her wide eyes. “You’re very small, much smaller than usual, huh baby girl?” he voiced.

“Да,” her lips said.

That was about the extent of what Clint was willing to voice if Nat could understand sign, so he stepped away far enough for her to see his hands, “Are you hungry, sweetheart?” 

She nodded, laughing as both she and Bucky looked down at her stomach.

“Your tummy yelling at you?” Clint asked, smiling. 

Natalia nodded again and this time her fist joined in sloppily.

“Let’s go get you some food then. Ask Bucky nicely to take you to the kitchen?” Clint said, turning his back. He felt Bucky move behind him, and assumed that Natalia had politely asked in Russian (as she usually did when she woke up small; she’d probably be speaking in Russian until she woke up the next time).

Once Bucky was sat down in the armchair and gotten them situated with Natalia’s legs hanging off one end and her head held up with his elbow, Clint got Bucky’s attention. “She up for solid food?”

Bucky turned to Natalia and his lips moved, presumably asking her.

Bucky turned back to Clint and signed, definitively, “Bottle.”

Clint nodded and went to make up some of Nat’s favourite drink, the one with his special ingredients – some fresh vanilla beans, some banana, and a handful of blueberries. He mixed it all with her special nutrient drink.

Some days, he was so grateful for Tony’s eclectic collection of friends and employees, because that meant that there was a whole team put together to make alternatives for when they can’t eat normally.

They were under the impression it was for when they were injured or one of their many mental illnesses made it difficult to eat at all, but that resulted in a variety of meals that were easy on the stomach that had the necessary caloric intake for each member of the Avengers, in more than one form, with all the nutrients each of them needed.

Right before Clint turned the blender on, he made sure to tell Bucky so he could cover Natalia’s ears. She would still whimper and whine, but the loud noise wouldn’t send her into a meltdown.

Once the drink was made up and completely smooth, Clint added warm milk from the beverage maker on the wall to thin it.

He grabbed Natalia’s favourite бубу and filled it with the beverage before snagging a soft dish towel from the rack.

Bucky was talking to Natalia in Russian, and she was grinning, wide eyes locked on Bucky’s face. 

Clint walked loudly to the two of them and laid the towel over Nat’s chest before she turned to him. Her eyes lit up when she saw her бубу and she opened her mouth. 

Clint handed the bottle to Bucky to feed to her, since they were already set up for him feeding her. Bucky nodded his thanks to Clint as he began to feed Natalia. 

Once Clint cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, he snagged one of his special granola bars and one of Bucky’s. He laid Bucky’s on the end table by Nat’s head, and he relaxed on the sofa facing Bucky and Natalia, watching as she suckled while he ate.

A couple times, Bucky took the bottle out of her mouth and spoke gently to her. She had a tendency to drink too fast and upset her stomach. She needed a reminder that she needed it inside her body, and it wouldn’t stay in her body if she drank it so fast.

It often upset her to have her meal interrupted, but it was preferable to her getting sick, which upset her far more.

Once she finished eating, Bucky pulled her upright and rubbed her back to get any air out of her system. Once he was satisfied, he set the bottle and cloth aside and stood up, Natalia’s legs wrapping around his torso and arms around his neck.

Clint got up and followed the two to Nat’s bedroom. He pulled the covers back for Bucky, who immediately set Nat down and helped her get settled in bed.

Once she was all tucked in, Bucky said his goodnights and kissed her forehead. 

“I’ll stay here in case you need me,” Bucky signed to Clint, who nodded his thanks. Bucky flipped the light off as he left the room.

Once Clint said his goodnights to Natalia, he went to pull away, but she became panicked and clutched at his shirt with her full power.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

Tears began running down Natalia’s face, and she shook her head and said “нет” over and over. He figured she wouldn’t even try to sleep, but this was new.

“Okay,” he said aloud, “Staying here. Let go so I can get in, okay?”

Natalia nodded and cautiously released her hold on Clint’s shirt. He carefully slid under the covers next to her. Natalia immediately wrapped her arms and legs around him and cried into his shoulder. 

Clint grimaced. Everything had been going so well, too. He sighed and rubbed Natalia’s back.

Not much later, she stilled breathing hot air onto his neck. He was incredibly uncomfortable, but like hell he was moving.

He let his thoughts drift, and he dozed off and then fell asleep himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For breakfast Bucky and Clint had whole wheat corn pancakes with real maple syrup and butter, omelettes with lots of veggies and cheese, and whole wheat toast and beans. And bacon, of course. They’d gotten as much of it as they could from local farmer’s markets.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got excited and decided to upload another chapter today (Three days after the first chapter). I actually had to restrain myself from uploading it yesterday, lol.
> 
> Translations: Папа = Papa = Papa (Nat always uses the Russian form/accent, but I thought it would be less weird sticking with latin letters when possible)

Natalia’s POV

 

When Natalia woke up, she panicked. She’d seen Clint blow up and she was _sure_ he was dead.

“Папа!” she shouted, jolting upright in bed.

Папа bolted upright in response, prepared for a fight. He glanced to the door, the window, the vent, the closet door. When nothing was forthcoming, he signed to Nat “Where’s the trouble?”

Natalia tapped Papa’s cheek clumsily, and he turned his head slightly towards her. She shook her head.

“Nothing” she signed. “Nightmare. Scared.”

Words were hard, and she was kind of glad that Papa didn’t have a working hearing aid right now, because he’d be _so_ disappointed when she didn’t speak. Couldn’t.

He turned fully to face her, and when he caught sight of her face in the sunlight, his eyes widened.

Her lips trembled. What was it? Was it her fault?

He reached a hand over and gently wiped her cheeks, and _oh_ , when did she start crying?

She started sobbing and buried her head in Papa’s shoulder. She was _so scared._ She couldn’t lose her Papa! She couldn’t, couldn’t, couldn’t!

Papa wrapped his strong, calloused hands tightly around her. She felt Papa’s voice more than she heard it. His voice soothed her, even though her brain wouldn’t tell her what he was saying.

It took her forever to stop crying. She got frustrated at her inability to staunch the flow of tears and began to sob harder in response. She _hated_ being so helpless.

Someone knocked at her door and she looked up, gross face and all. Bucky was poking his head into the room.

“Can I come in?” he asked her in Russian. Natalia nodded miserably.

Bucky sat beside Papa on her bed, facing Natalia. “Let us take care of you,” he said, “We love taking care of you. Let go, kitten. It’s okay.”

Natalia shook her head so hard it hurt.

Papa laid a hand on her cheek and guided her to look at his face.

“Let yourself be a baby. Let us take care of you. You’re strong, but it’s time for us to be strong instead. Let yourself go. We’re right here,” Papa signed.

Natalia’s shoulders suddenly slumped, and she wobbled a bit before falling into Papa’s chest. She started crying again, but it wasn’t a sad cry; it was a relieved cry.

It felt so good, and she had two sets of arms – Papa’s and Bucky’s – around her. They held her until her cries calmed to hiccups.

Bucky got up and left the room, and Papa got her attention again. “Ready for breakfast?”

Natalia nodded her head, and he raised his hand to sign to her, “Bottle or solid food?”

“Bottle!” she signed back enthusiastically.

Papa smiled and nodded. Bucky re-entered the room and Papa left. Bucky had a washcloth in his hand. He gently wiped her face with it, and _oh it was so warm!_ She hummed, her lips turning up into a smile.

“That’s what I like to see,” Dada signed.

Natalia’s grin widened and her face turned a bit red. This made Bucky grin, and that made Natalia even happier, and she ended up giggling as he wiped her nose with the cloth.

Natalia shook her head because that _tickled,_ Dada! All that came out of her mouth was nonsense sounds, but Bucky just kept right on grinning.

Once her face was all clean, he rested his forehead on hers. “I’ve missed you, little kitten. I’m so happy to see you. Can I pick you up and take you to the bathroom, so we can finish getting cleaned up for breakfast while Papa gets breakfast ready?”

Natalia nodded, and Bucky gently picked her up.

“No bath!” Natalia shouted in Russian.

“I know,” Bucky replied, setting her on the toilet lid, “You wet yourself and we need to clean you up before breakfast.”

Her shoulders slumped forward as she fully noticed, her face turning red.

“No, no no no no, Natalia, no. Babies use their diapers, and can’t help it. It’s okay to be a baby. You’re letting Papa and I take care of you, remember? It’s okay,” he reassured her quietly in Russian.

He stood her up and helped her remove her trousers and unbuttoned her onesie. He put her hands on his shoulders for balance, and he undid the diaper tabs before removing the soiled diaper.

Bucky grabbed a wipe and carefully but quickly wiped Natalia’s genitals off before rubbing powder on her. When he went to put a new diaper on, she whimpered.

“Kitten, it’s okay. You wet yourself twice last night, so this is to make sure everything is caught if you do wet yourself. Can you wear it for me, please?”

Natalia whimpered again but nodded.

Once the diaper was on her, Dada did her onesie snaps back up and helped her back into her trousers. Then they washed their hands together, and he picked her up and took her to the living room.

On the coffee table next to the armchair was Natalia’s bottle. She looked at it excitedly and grabbed for it.

“Uh-uh, little kitten,” Bucky reprimanded, “You’re letting us take care of you, remember? Besides, don’t you want to hold your penguin?”

Natalia nodded in excitement, looking around for Sven. Bucky pulled him out of thin air and she gasped happily before giggling and cuddling up to the big penguin stuffie.

She repeated the penguin’s name over and over, like she was cooing at him.

While she was distracted, Bucky sat down and got settled in the armchair.

“Ready for your bottle?” Bucky asked gently, picking up her bottle. Natalia nodded, already able to taste the yummy liquid. Papa always made it the _best_ , and when she was Big she tried to copy it, but even with her perfect spy skills, she couldn’t figure it out.

She opened her mouth up for her бубу, and Bucky nursed her. Natalia pet her penguin contentedly as she drank her breakfast, and she enjoyed her time cuddled up with Dada. He was so warm and calm, and he could read her better than anyone else, even better than Papa.

She hummed contentedly when Bucky began to stroke her hair after gently removing the ribbons from her hair.

Nat could smell all sorts of things coming from the kitchen, and she could probably guess what they were, if she thought about it. But she didn’t want to think about it. She was small right now, and she didn’t need to use her spy skills right now. She trusted Papa and Bucky unconditionally, so she was okay with not knowing.

She relaxed further into Bucky, who gave her an extra soft smile.

“Hungry, baby?” he asked. She hummed an affirmative between suckles, and he chuckled.

“Slow down or I’m gonna have to make you take a break from it, okay?” he warned her.

Nat pulled her head away from the nipple to pout at him. She wanted her food! She turned to go back to her meal, but found the bottle out of her reach on the table. She whined unhappily.

“I know kitten, I know. Less than a minute, since you stopped on your own. Let me just rub your belly okay?” Dada waited for a reluctant nod before he gently rubbed her belly, which was beginning to ache a little bit. She whimpered.

“Yeah? That doesn’t feel too good, huh. I’m glad we paused when we did; otherwise you’d be in more pain. Let’s cuddle for a bit and wait for your tummy to get through some of that, okay?”

That wasn’t fair! Bucky _just_ said less than a minute, but now it was more than that? Mean Dada. _Hmph_. Nat crossed her arms, forgetting Sven was tucked in her elbow, and dislodged him to the floor.

“нет!” She screeched. “Sven!” She twisted in Bucky’s arms to try to pick him back up, but she couldn’t reach, so she tried to lean further.

“No no no, Nat. You know better than that. Just relax with me. When Papa comes over with my food, I’m sure he’ll pick Sven up for you. But right now you can do without. It's okay. Why don’t we finish your breakfast now?” Bucky asked, picking her bottle back up off the table.

Natalia turned back to Bucky unhappily, but as soon as he pressed the teat to her lips, they opened without her deciding to let them. She growled at Bucky, who merely chuckled. Meanie face.

She sighed through her nose and began sucking her yummy breakfast down.

Just a few minutes later she was done, and then Bucky sat her up and rubbed her back to make her burp. It made her feel funny and she didn’t like it, but Dada said it was important. Ugh.

Once she was done, Dada kept rubbing her back and cuddled her close to him. He was so warm and safe, and she _felt_ safe _._

Then Papa came over with Bucky’s food on two different plates. Bucky signed to him to please pick Sven up.

“How about we let her play on the floor while we eat? Help wake her up properly before Matty comes,” Papa said, turning to Nat, “How does that sound, little girl? A playdate with Matty?”

Natalia shrugged. She’d never been little at the same time as Matt, and she wasn’t feeling very social, but Papa thought it was a good idea, and she thought Bucky did too, so she would try.

Papa nodded. “If you don’t want to play with him you don’t have to. Just keeping him company is fine, sweetheart.”

Natalia hummed in the affirmative before turning to Dada and gesturing her head to the floor. He just grinned at her and shook his head in fondness before gently setting her down on the floor.

She immediately crawled over to her toy basket and pulled out her construction set. She was gonna make a _big_ tower, like the one she was in now. Papa even got her _lots_ of extra special materials she could build with.

It was all fake wood, but it was soft and fun to _squish_. And build with. She dug around for a bit for all the new fake wood Papa had gotten her, but she couldn’t find it.

She turned to Papa and whined in distress. He turned towards her, and she caught a glimpse of a hearing aid. He must have found an old one.

_Oh no._ He would expect her to talk! She couldn’t talk! Her lips wobbled and she shook her head. Her mouth wouldn’t listen! Why wouldn’t it listen! Papa would be so disappointed! Come _on_ , mouth! Listen! Need to speak! Speak!!

Natalia whined in a higher pitch, upset.

Papa appeared in front of her and took her hands in his. “It’s okay, darling. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m guessing you’re having trouble with your words right now. Is that what’s upsetting you?” he asked, voice gentle.

Natalia’s frown deepened, but she nodded. “Di’point’d,” she mumbled. Thrilled though she was to get something out, it sounded so pathetic! Stupid stupid stupid mouth.

Papa turned to Bucky in confusion. “Disappointed,” Bucky said clearly. Papa nodded and turned back to her.

“Nobody’s disappointed, honey. Words are hard for all of us sometimes, and you’re very little right now, so it makes extra sense that you can’t really speak. That’s okay.” Papa waited a few moments for her to make sense of what he’d said aloud.

“Now, are you looking for your new construction materials?” Papa was _so amazing._ He was the _best_! She threw her arms around his neck, smacking his face by accident.

Papa grimaced and she pulled away quickly, frowning in apology.

“It’s okay, darling. It just pulls my stitches. Now, I’ll go get your new construction materials. I’ll be right back.” He turned away and walked off to one of his closets, and returned with a giant tub full of the fake wood.

Natalia squealed happily, clapping her hands. She sloppily signed “thank you” to Papa.

Papa smiled. “You’re welcome, love,” he said, sitting back down on the couch and going back to his breakfast.

It took a _lot_ of work to get the base of the tower ready for more building. She screwed the plastic screws in, and hammered the plastic nails in, and sawed the wood how long it needed to be. And when she measured wrong, she connected the pieces with plastic dowel.

There was a knock at the door that startled Natalia out of her tower building. She looked around and discovered that Papa and Bucky were both changed, and Bucky’s hair was wet.

Papa answered the door, and Peter Parker was there, Matty holding onto his elbow. He was hunched further than normal, and he looked like he didn’t know why he was holding his cane.

“Hello, Natasha!” Peter shouted excitedly. Natalia shyly waved at him. “What a cool tower! Matty, would you like to feel her tower? It’s made of foam and plastic nails, and it looks _amazing_!”

Papa smiled when Matty nodded his head. Peter lead Matty to the tower, and took his hand off his elbow so he could carefully set it on the top of the tower.

“Wow,” Matty breathed in awe, “This is amazing, Nat. Can I play with you?”

The three big people grinned. Natalia nodded, then remembered to hum a yes. As soon as she did, Matty sat down on the floor across from her and tentatively reached his hands out to the tower.

He felt around it, getting an idea for how it was constructed. “You’ve done a great job on this!” he finally said. “I never would have thought to add an extra nail here,” he pointed carefully to a corner towards the bottom with two nails instead of one, “and I definitely wouldn’t have thought to put any supports in the middle of it! You’re so smart!”

Natalia grinned and clapped happily. She handed her next piece over to Matty, and put his hand where she wanted it to go. She put the nail where she wanted it, to connect the piece Matty was holding for her with the tower.

She very seriously, very carefully hammered the nail into it. She didn’t wanna hurt Matty. He was _so_ good. She liked him already.

Matty’s head was tilted as he concentrated on what he was hearing, to figure out what she was doing.

Natalia politely asked her mouth to please let her tell Matt what was happening, and it let her! “Holding wood, I hammer. Thank.”

Matty’s smile was _huge_ and it was just for her! She wiggled happily and clapped her hands together. Then she grabbed another nail to carefully hammer into the tower.

Peter leaned down next to Matty and told him, “I have to go to work, but I’ll be in the building, so if you need me you can have JARVIS get me. But trust Clint and Bucky, okay? They’re great guys, and I want you to give them a chance before getting me, okay?”

“I understand and will do my best to trust Clint,” Matty responded Properly.

Bucky snorted, and talked over Peter’s scolding. “I don’t take any offence. It’s good for you to be wary of me. Let me know if I do anything wrong though; I’m still learning.”

Matty nodded his assent, then turned back to Natalia, who put another piece of fake wood in his hand.

Peter said goodbye to Dada and Papa and her and then left. She went back to carefully building the tower with Matty.

“Excuse me?” Matty said some time later, “I need to go potty. Can Clint please help me?”

“Of course, little man,” Papa said, reaching down and helping Matty up. Papa lead Matty away to the potty, and Natalia got up and crawled over to Bucky. She put her hands on his cheeks, and smooshed her lips on his real quick.

“Love you Dada,” she mumbled, then immediately went back to her tower, considering it. It was nearly done. She had to get way up onto her feet to reach the top. It was time for the top pieces, then it was done.

She wanted to wait for Matty to get back though. He’d been so much help, and she didn’t want him to miss the grand finale! It was important to such an important tower! Like when they finished the tower she was in now.

There was a big party. That would be perfect! Nat turned to Bucky.

“Need a party,” she signed.

Dada pressed his lips together to avoid bursting out laughing. “Why do you need a party?” he asked.

“Finally done!” Nat signed, gesturing to the tower.

“Oh, you want a party like the one Tony threw when the Tower was done?”

Natalia nodded, relieved that he understood.

“Okay, once Clint gets back we can talk to him and Matty about it, and maybe throw a party this afternoon to celebrate. How’s that sound?” he asked.

Natalia nodded, and she and Dada shared a happy smile. Then she wiggled and danced on her rear in front of the tower. She was so happy!

She wiggled and danced to the music someone had put on until Matty came back. “Finale,” she said, handing him the last two pieces, then guiding his hand to place the first of them for her to hammer.

“Are you sure?” Matty asked, “This is an important part, and I don’t wanna take it away from you.”

Nat squeezed his hand a little bit where it was on the tower. She grabbed her little hammer and a nail and got back to work.

“What kind of party do you want for the tower celebration, Nat?” Papa asked, sitting down with a mug in his hands.

She hummed and thought about it. “Tea and dresses?”

“Russian tea, or normal tea?” Bucky asked knowingly. Natalia just glared at him. “Yeah, thought so. I’ll go get the [samovar](https://web.archive.org/web/20181003060543/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar) and start the tea. Finger foods like tiny sandwiches?”

Natalia smiled and nodded. Dada nodded and got up. He left the room to get everything ready.

“Why don’t we watch a movie once that last piece is put on, then we’ll have lunch. How does that sound?”

Natalia nodded and Matty said, “That sounds lovely.”

Natalia positioned the final piece and set about carefully hammering it in place while Clint browsed through the movies with audio description.

“Moana!” Natalia shouted, having seen it in the corner of her eye. Matty nodded in agreement, so Papa put it on for them.

The tower was done, and it was tall and beautiful. It was perfect!

Natalia crawled to the couch and climbed up it to cuddle into Papa. Matty didn’t move, though his head was turned towards the speaker closest to him.

“Matty, you can sit on one of the couches. Do you know where they are?” Papa whispered. Matty nodded and stood up carefully and swung his foot out in front of him to check there was nothing to trip over as he made his way to the armchair facing away from the tv.

He snuggled down into it and listened attentively.

Natalia hummed and clumsily flopped off the couch and onto the floor. She grabbed Sven from where he fell during breakfast and put him in Matty’s lap. He wasn’t cuddling Papa so he needed cuddles.

“Sven,” she whispered. “Pe’win.”

“Sven the penguin?” Matty confirmed. Nat hummed a yes. “Thank you,” Matty said. He cuddled Sven close and ran his hands over his head gently with a small smile on his face.

Nat nodded firmly then crawled back up onto the couch to cuddle into Papa.

Once the movie was over, Papa stood up to make lunch. “How’s grilled cheese and tomato soup sound?”

“Yummy!” Matt said loudly, startling himself. Natalia giggled and then nodded to Papa.

It wasn’t until they were sat at the table that they remembered how little Natalia was that day. She stared at her plate and bowl with a funny look on her face, like she expected the food to spontaneously combust. Or herself to.

Bucky knocked as he entered, and he looked concerned once he saw Nat’s face.

“Do you need help, Doll?” he asked gently.

Nat’s shoulders hunched but she nodded.

“I’m so proud of you for admitting you need help, Natalia,” Dada said firmly. He sat down at the table next to her and produced a knife out of nowhere and cut her sandwich into tiny bites. Then he placed them all in her soup.

After a few moments, he took her spoon and picked up a piece of soft sandwich with soup and brought it to her mouth.

“Remember to chew, kitten,” Bucky reminded quietly as Nat opened her mouth to accept the food.

The other two fed themselves, though Matty managed to get tomato soup in his eyebrows (but nowhere else). Matty and Papa finished before her, and Papa took Matty into the bathroom to clean up.

Dada was _so_ patient with Natalia and fed her slowly so she didn’t get sick. She loved when he was so gentle and patient with her. She felt so loved and like everything in the world was the most perfect ever.

Once she was finished with her food, Bucky non-verbally asked to pick Nat up. Once she nodded, he picked her up and led her to the bathroom. Matty was in the shower, and Papa was with him in his briefs, sitting in the shower chair, helping him out.

Bucky put a clean washcloth under the shower’s spray for a moment and then used it to clean Natalia’s face and hands. Once she was clean, Bucky asked if she needed to use the potty.

She nodded, and Dada helped her take her trousers off, undo her onesie, and take her diaper off. After she was done pottying, Bucky helped her wash her hands, then led her to her room to change.

He helped her put on a pull-up and sparkly leotard, then some bright purple leggings on top of it. Then he tucked her into bed for a nap.

“Gotta get all rested up for your party later on, right?” Dada asked. Natalia nodded. She wanted the party to be _perfect_ , and if she was sleepy it would be horrible!

So she let herself be put down for a nap. Just this once.

Soon afterwards, Matty joined her, and they held onto each other as they fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you liked it! This is my first time writing anything with age regression (and I actually spent most of the time writing this regressed, myself), and I am absolutely desperate for feedback. Critiques are fine so long as they're fact based, and not opinion based (ie spelling and grammar, not my use of the oxford comma, regression in general, possible ooc, etc). Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this was my favourite chapter to write :D Enjoy!
> 
> Translations:
> 
> Мишка Косолапый = Mishka Kosolapy = clumsy bear (the brand name of a sweet)
> 
> Это мишка Косолапый = eh-tuh Mishka Kosolapy = it's a Mishka Kosolapy!

Natalia woke up when Matty jolted upright. She blinked slowly, confused, until she saw Dada in the doorway with a smile on his face.

“Hello, kitten, Matty. Are you ready for your tea and dress party?”

Natalia nodded, crawling bodily over Matty to the floor and ran over to Bucky to wrap her arms around him tightly. Matty grumbled incoherently, but she didn’t care. She was happy! So happy!

Dada picked her up and swung her around, and a happy laugh bubbled out of her. Dada beamed at Natalia and she smiled bigger. Seeing him happy was the best feeling ever!

Matty staggered upright and stumbled into her dresser. Dada set her down and rushed to Matty’s side. He wrapped an arm around his waist and just stood there.

Matty didn’t want to move, maybe? He was silly like that. If he couldn’t move on his own he didn’t want to move.

Natalia? She  _ loved _ being picked up and carried. But Papa couldn’t. And that made her sad. But Bucky loved carrying her around, and sometimes Steve carried her around too. Not usually. He acted funny with her sometimes.

And one time, Hulk picked her up. Papa and Bucky and Steve and Tony were scared, but she wasn’t! That wasn’t quite right. She  _ was _ scared, but it wasn’t because Hulk picked her up! Red Room agents were there and she was more scared than she’d ever been in her  _ life _ , and Hulk picked her up and protected her.

He was the  _ best! _ But don’t tell Papa that.

And sometimes when Thor was there, he carried her around just because he knew it made her happy. He even took her flying inside their gym, and it was so fun!

Matty took a deep breath and shook Natalia out of her thoughts. He nodded to Dada.

“Can you please  _ walk _ to get Matty’s cane, and bring it back here, sweetheart?”

Natalia nodded and walked to the living room. She was a bit wobbly, but she didn’t fall, and she was a good girl and didn’t run. She sat down and picked up the cane, then carefully got up with some help from the couch.

She walked back to her bedroom, and handed the cane to Bucky, who handed it to Matty the way he likes best. Matty’s lips twitched upwards and he stood taller. Dada removed his arm and picked Natalia back up.

“Papa got you a special outfit for the party, and it’s in his room. I’m gonna take you there while Matty gets Tony ready, okay?” He looked her in the face to make sure it really was okay.

Not like bad people, who never ask, and just do, and take her places she doesn’t wanna go, and never set her down unless she kills them.

Natalia shuddered and Dada went to put her down, but she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. “Stay. Okay. Is okay.”

Bucky nodded, trusting her, and took her to Papa’s room. Papa was waiting in there for her, with a pretty wrapped box in all her favourite blues and greens.

Bucky put her down on the bed and she looked to Papa to confirm that she could open it. Once he nodded, she ripped into the paper around it and flung the top of the box off.

Papa snorted, and she thought she might have hit Dada with the top, but she didn’t care. No hurt. She gasped at the fabric inside. It was deep, dark blue. Lighter than the night sky, but darker than the sea. And it had glitter  _ all over it! _ It was so beautiful! The glitter was almost green, and it caught the light perfectly, and “Papa, really mine?”

Papa smiled. “Yes, love. It is all yours.”

Natalia jumped from the bed onto Papa, and he stumbled backwards and cursed as she wrapped her limbs around him. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” she shouted.

Papa leaned against the wall and hugged her back. “You’re very welcome, Natalia.”

He sounded funny, like someone heavy was sitting on him. Oh. Natalia let herself down quickly and started mumbling apologies, mostly in Russian.

“Nat, darling, look at me,” Papa said in his no-nonsense voice. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“Do I look hurt, upset, mad, or any other negative emotion?” Papa didn’t  _ look _ hurt or upset, but that didn’t mean anything! He knew that as well as she did.

Her lips turned down.

Dada came up and wrapped his metal arm lightly around Nat’s shoulders. “You’re not in trouble, and Papa isn’t hurt. You know Papa very well. Are those lines that show up around his eyes and mouth when he’s upset there?”

Nat shook her head.

“How about the clenched jaw?” Dada asked softly.

Nat shook her head again.

“Are his toes curled, or his knees bent to move or fight?”

Natalia shook her head again. “No. Papa isn’t upset, Dada. Bucky. Sorry.”

Papa came up to her and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “Bucky likes it when you call him Dada. But he’s afraid you don’t want to call him Dada, so he didn’t want to say anything.”

Natalia whipped her head up to look at Bucky in excitement. “Really? No joking?”

His face turned a bit red. “No joking,” he confirmed, “I do like it when you call me Dada, but I didn’t want you to feel pressured.”

“Dada!” She squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting sloppy kisses on his cheeks. “Love you, Dada!”

“I love you too, kitten,” Dada said and held her as she repeated his name, overjoyed, lots and lots.

“Okay,” Papa interrupted, “We have a party to get to, so why don’t we get dressed? Do you have to go potty, Natalia?”

She thought about it, then shook her head. “Nope!”

Papa took the beautiful dress out of the box, and  _ oh _ it had a soft liner beneath the fabric so it was comfy! And it had buttons instead of a zipper, so she wouldn’t be trapped!

Nat wiggled and hopped happily after letting go of Dada. He let her get her wiggles out before helping her take her clothes off, except her pull-up. She knew it had to stay on, and she hated it. But it’d be worse to ruin the prettiest dress ever on the entire earth, maybe even in the universe!

Papa handed Dada the dress so he could bend down and help her step into it. Dada pulled the dress up, and it was  _ so comfy! _ She was right! It was so good and perfect! And the sleeves went to her elbows, just the way she liked! And it had special fabric in it to keep her chest from bouncing everywhere, and helped keep it small.

Then she saw that Papa was holding some black yoga pants in his hands, and she smiled even bigger. She could sit however she wanted and nobody would look at her funny or tell her to sit different! Hah! Take  _ that _ , Steve.

“They have pockets,” Papa said, handing the trousers to Dada.

“They have pockets?” she shouted, eyes bulging. “No way! That’s the best, Papa!”

Dada smirked, leaning down to help her get into them. “So does the dress, kitten.”

Natalia’s mouth dropped open in shock, and she froze for a moment, making Dada do all the work in getting her trousers up over her knees and hips. Then she began searching for them, and found she could reach  _ all the way to her elbow _ in them!

“No. Way! Papa, you’re the best!” Natalia went to jump on him, but Dada held her back.

Before she could get upset, Dada reminded her quietly, “Papa has stitches in his leg, remember?”

Her face went immediately neutral as she remembered. She pulled her hands out of her huge pockets (!!!) and approached Papa slowly and wrapped her arms gently around him before squealing and hugging him tight tight tight.

“Thank you thank you thank you!”

Papa coughed and brought his arms up around her. “You’re welcome. We also got you some other pockets. Like holsters, except to hold anything you want. That was Bucky- Dada’s idea.”

A smile bigger than her face felt like it could possibly hold lit her up, and she turned to Dada and jumped into him, thanking him lots and lots.

“You’re welcome, doll. Now let’s get those pockets on and get to that party.” He took two pockets out of the box and leaned down to attach one to her thigh and the other to her opposite ankle (the ankle one had to go under her trousers, which was silly).

Papa put a smaller one on her upper arm, and that took some funny noises and movements to get it settled under her sleeve without showing.

“There’s also a pocket at your back, too, though it might be hard to get to,” Dada said off-handedly.

Natalia’s eyes were glazed over in happiness, and she didn’t think she could ever be happier.

When she got her eyes to focus again, Dada and Papa were both wearing their own  _ dresses _ . Dada’s was all black, and his skirt was big and fluffy, and his top was like a normal suit.

Papa had on a bright purple dress that hugged his body. He looked a little bit silly, because she could see his body hair sticking out in some places. She leaned towards him and yanked on one of his chest hairs through the dress.

Papa shouted a bad word and flinched away from her. Nat looked down and saw that she had the hair between her fingers. She giggled and showed Dada.

Dada’s lips were twitching when he said “Now kitten, that’s not very nice. You should apologise to Papa.”

Natalia hunched her shoulders. “I know,” she mumbled, “I’m sorry, Papa.” (She was sorry she hurt him, not that she yanked his hair out)

“Apology accepted. Let’s get our shoes on, then we can walk out the door,” he said.

Dada helped her into her comfy black flats while Papa gently brushed her hair. Then they put their own shoes on, and she grabbed some knives and a gun to stash in her pockets just in case, while they were distracted.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to, but she had to. It was important. And JARVIS understood that, which was why he didn’t tell on her.

Natalia stroked the wall in thanks as she slowly walked over to where Dada was waiting for Papa to get his shoes on. Dada was wearing shoes just like hers, and Papa was working on putting delicate purple heels that matched his dress on.

He put on a black cardigan as the three of them slowly walked out the door.

When they got to the common floor, Natalia looked around in wonder.  _ Everyone _ was wearing a dress. Tony was wearing a red and gold mini-dress, showing off his smooth legs. How did he get them so smooth? She was gonna have to know when she was big again.

Matty’s hand was above Tony’s elbow. He was wearing a simple dress that was mostly unremarkable; it covered most of his shoulders, chest, and legs. But it looked very flowy and good feeling, and it had an underlying red tinge to it. It also had a little bit of rainbow glitter, and he looked  _ so handsome! _

Natalia was almost jealous of his dress, but she loved hers. She took a moment to twirl in place, watching the material as it flowed around her, sparkling.

She looked to Steve, who was wearing a super pretty flapper dress. His face was bright red, in his light blue dress.

Bruce was wearing a dress that looked  _ just like the night sky. _ “Papa, Papa, Papa! Did you see Bruce’s pretty dress? Let’s go look at it!” She said, dragging Papa behind her; Dada stayed put but kept an eye on them.

Bruce’s dress was super, super,  _ super _ dark blue, and it had tiny sequins like stars, and she thought she could see  _ real constellations _ on it!

“Touch?” Natalia asked once they were in front of him.

“Sure, Natasha. Go ahead,” Bruce smiled, only a little bit nervous. Natalia cautiously ran her hand over the fabric. It was rough, but it slid easily and she thought maybe it had soft fabric underneath, like hers.

Natalia inspected the dress from the sides, and when she got to the back she gasped. “Orion! Papa, look!” She pointed excitedly to the area around Bruce’s shoulder blade, “That’s Orion! The constellation! See, his belt is here, Papa! Oh this is amazing! Almost as amazing as mine, Bruce!”

Bruce chuckled. “I’m glad you like it. I thought it was pretty awesome, myself.”

Natalia nodded. “Thank you,” she said to Bruce before turning to walk away and towards Pepper, who was wearing-

“Clinton Francis Barton!” Bruce’s stern, upset doctor’s voice said loudly. Nat turned quickly, glaring at Bruce in suspicion. Bruce hadn’t moved a bit, but he was disappointed in Papa, who raised an eyebrow.

“Remove the heels. You got 18 stitches in your calf  _ yesterday _ . You can _ not _ be wearing heels so soon.”

Natalia crossed her arms. “Bad Papa.”

Papa just sighed and toed off his heels. He looked much more relaxed than he was, so he must have been in  _ lots _ of pain.

He turned to walk away, heels in-hand, but Bruce said, “Nope, hand ‘em over Barton.”

Papa heaved the biggest sigh  _ ever  _ before handing them over to Bruce.

“Thank you,” Bruce said in his kind doctor voice. Papa grunted and turned back away, and before Natalia led them to Pepper, she nodded her thanks to Bruce.

Pepper was wearing something fancier than normal – a little black dress with red accents. Just like Nat’s superhero outfit!

“It’s me!” she said excitedly, pointing to the dress.

“I don’t think so, darling,” Papa started.

Pepper shook her head, “No, she’s right, Barton. I bought this dress with Natasha in mind, and today was the perfect occasion for it,” she paused to consider her words, “What do you think of it?”

Natalia grinned and nodded excitedly. “Perfect!” She wiggled to emphasise just how perfect it was.

Pepper smiled super big. “I’m so glad. Enjoy the party, okay?” Natalia nodded and skipped off to Strange.

Once she got close to him, she approached slowly. He’d never seen her small before. She wasn’t scared, really, but she was nervous.

“Ah, you’re surprised to see me here, little Natalia. Would you like me to leave? I thought you invited me, or I would have confirmed with you directly before arriving,” he said, keeping his arms at his sides, a little bit away from his body so they weren’t hidden by the white polka-dotted red dress.

She shook her head. “Is okay,” she said quietly, “Be nice.”

“Please call her Natasha,” Dada butted in, appearing out of nowhere.

“Of course. I’m sorry, little Natasha. If I may say, your dress is rather spectacular. Would you mind spinning for me?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet and as unthreatening as he could.

Natalia nodded and promptly spun three or maybe four times for him. When she looked at him, he had a real smile on his face, all soft and gooey.

“Thank you, Natasha. May I take your hand and kiss it?”

Natalia thought about it, then shook her head.

“Alright. May I blow your hand a kiss? No magic involved,” he replied, voice exactly the same, and face still soft and gooey and smiley. Natalia nodded, and Strange blew a kiss to her hand, and she giggled and smiled a smile just for him.

“Thank you, little Natasha. Enjoy the celebration,” he said, turning and walking to the other side of the room to get some tea.

That made Natalia realise she was hungry, so she looked around for the food table and dragged Papa and Dada over there. She looked at them significantly, asking permission and maybe help. She didn’t want to drop special food like this, and she dropped lots of plates. Dada picked up a plate.

“What would you like?” he asked, gesturing to the spread of finger food.

She pointed to the grilled cheese cut in triangles. Dada picked up one little sandwich and put it on her plate, then she pointed to the silly dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.

“How many?” Dada asked her, flesh hand hovering over the chicken nuggets. Natalia hummed while she thought. Four seemed like a good number, so she held four fingers up to him. Dada immediately loaded four chicken nuggets onto her plate.

Natalia studied the table for a while, thinking about the best thing to eat. She finally decided on [lavash salmon rolls](https://web.archive.org/web/20181021200256/https://myrussianfoods.com/finger-foods/lavash-rolls-with-smoked-salmon). “Two, please,” she said quietly.

Dada nodded and put two on her plate, then handed the plate to Papa, who had lots of food on his own plate. She followed Papa to one of the tiny tables and sat down across from him.

While they were eating, Dada came back with Matty and Peter, as well as a sippy of tea for her. It was made perfect, strong and with jam!

Peter was wearing a long flowing red gown, bright red lipstick, and blue wedges.

“Touch?” Natalia asked.

Peter shook his head. “Not right now. Once you’re done eating and you’ve washed your hands, you can definitely touch my dress. But I want to wear it to prom, so I want it to stay nice and clean. Is that okay?”

Nat nodded and sipped her tea. Prom was an important mission. Target: look best. Can’t look best if ruined dress. “Okay.”

Peter smiled and ran a hand carefully along his hair, which was grown out enough to be in a pretty bun at the top of his head. She hadn’t even noticed it get that long.  _ Wow _ .

Matty seemed happy. He was rocking slightly side to side with his lips turned up.

They all ate in relative silence, eavesdropping on those around them.

Once they were done eating, Papa led her to - “Loki?”

Loki grinned at Natalia. “Natasha! My lovely little troublemaker! Hello!” She held a hand out to Nat, who wrapped her arms around her.

“Oh!” Loki breathed, wrapping her arms around Natalia. “You give very good hugs, Chaotic One. Did you know that?” she asked as Natalia stepped out of their hug.

Nat shook her head. “Well, you do,” Loki told her, “What do you think of my dress?”

It was regal. It was forest green, and was swirling a little bit. It looked like a moving painting. It covered Loki’s arms completely, and had big sleeves at the end, probably for holding secrets. There was white at the bottom instead of brown as she expected.

Loki reached her hand into one sleeve and pulled out a [Мишка Косолапый](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020123202/http://ryanthedemiboy.tumblr.com/post/179241961806/its-for-a-fic-because-the-wayback-machine-isnt). Natalia gasped, grinning and excitedly turning to Papa.

“Papa Papa Papa! Это мишка Косолапый!”

Papa smiled. “Yes,” he agreed in Russian, “I can see that. Go ahead and eat it, sweetheart.”

Natalia turned back to Loki. “Thank you,” she whispered, “You’re so good.” Then she opened her candy and took a bite. She leaned a little bit into Papa and hummed.

“So yummy” she said between bites. It was gone quickly, but she was always happy to taste something happy from Russia.

Loki bowed, “Shall I come back when you’re big with my favourite Russian alcohol?” She looked unsure of herself, which looked kinda funny on her.

“Please,” Natalia replied in Russian, as Loki made to leave. Nat’s hand darted out and grabbed her sleeve (causing many of her favourite Russian sweets to fall out of her sleeve and onto the floor). “Stay. If you want.”

The smile that Loki gave her absolutely lit up the entire  _ room _ . And Nat wasn’t even exaggerating. The room seemed like it was outdoors in the sunshine.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Natalia, “I think I shall.” Loki waved her hand and the fallen sweets disappeared.

Natalia gave her a little curtsey before skipping away to the drinks table. She pointed to the samovar and said, “Please.”

Papa took a sturdy plastic cup and poured some concentrated tea into it, added a bit of hot water and jam, stirred, then put a sippy lid on it before handing it to her.

“Thank you,” she signed, taking a long, amazing sip.

Tony swaggered up beside her, raising his cup, “A toast, to two of the best construction workers in the building, Matty and Natasha!”

Everyone said, “to Matty and Natasha!”

And then Tony raised his cup again and continued, “And to their beautiful five foot tall 1:300 replica of the Avengers Tower!” he gestured to the Tower replica next to the door with a professional plaque in front of it, with their names engraved on it (in print and braille!) and the details of it like a  _ real art piece _ .

Everyone gave cheers for them, and Natalia smiled happily and looked around at the people gathered around. Most of the people she trusted were in this room, and she was  _ so happy!  _ She thought she’d explode.

“Papa, I might explode from happy,” she whispered.

Papa chuckled, “I really don’t think so, but if you do, it’s the best way to go.” Natalia nodded enthusiastically.

She turned back to the room at large. Everyone was looking at the door closest to the elevator, where Dada pushed a cart in with several small cakes on it and a few gravy boats.

Matty gasped, eyes wide. “No. Way,” he said reverently.

Peter couldn’t even pretend to hide the giant grin on his face. “Yes way, Matty.”

Matty’s fingers wiggled at his sides and he bounced on the balls of his feet, keeping his face turned towards the cart Dada took to the middle of the room.

“[Irish apple cake with custard sauce](https://web.archive.org/web/20180614200959/https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/irish-apple-cake/),” Dada said with a flourish.

“From your favourite bakery, that one a little ways from your office,” Peter added.

Matty nodded and flapped his hands at his side. Dada quickly cut the first cake and handed slices out to Papa and Peter before continuing to the other cakes.

Peter poured the sauce on their slices, and then they all walked over to the table they’d occupied earlier, the big people holding the plates.

Once they sat down, Nat took a bite and nearly cried with how delicious it was. It was the best thing she’d  _ ever tasted. _ How had she not known about it?

“Matty, you gotta show me where this place is sometime. I think I need to visit lots. This is the  _ best thing ever! _ ”

Matty smiled for her, and he nodded, “I know,” he tilted his head in thought for a moment, “My dad used to take me.”

Natalia nodded. That made sense. Matty was raised in Hell’s Kitchen.

The two of them ate their cakes in silence, enjoying the deliciousness of the cake.

After they finished, Dada appeared with two damp cloths in his hand. He handed one to Peter and one to Papa. They took a minute to clean Matty and Natalia’s faces and hands.

After that, people started approaching them to shake their hands and congratulate them on their big accomplishment before saying goodbye.

Suddenly it was just Matty, Peter, Papa, and Natalia. Tony and Pepper were late to a meeting, and everyone else had things that needed doing. Even Dada. He needed to go to physical therapy. And he  _ hated _ physical therapy, so that meant he  _ super  _ needed to go.

Peter put his hands on Matty’s shoulders and said, “Matty, I gotta get back to work. Tony gave me a big lunch break today, but I have a significant amount of work that needs doing. So I need to leave for a while. But I’ll be back in a few hours, okay?”

Matty’s lip wobbled but he nodded.

“Touch?” Natalia reminded him quietly.

“I forgot,” Peter said, face going red, “Go ahead Natasha.”

Natalia took a moment to touch the dress, and she gasped at how soft and flowy it was. “Thank you,” she whispered reverently.

“You’re a good boy, Matty. You’re so strong and brave. Listen to Clint, and let him take care of you, and help him with Natasha. It’ll only be a few hours.”

Matty nodded again. Peter wiped the tears off Matty’s face and kissed his head before walking away.

“Let’s go back to my place to change out of our fancy clothes,” Papa said, “because we can’t play in our fancy clothes. We would risk ruining them, and they’re very nice. That sound good?” Papa asked, glancing between Natalia and Matty.

Natalia nodded. She would  _ definitely  _ keep her pockets on, but she slid a lot in her fancy flats, and that was fun, but not good for playing. And she definitely wanted to wear this dress again, so she had to be nice to it. And playing in it was not nice.

Matty nodded too. He seemed extra clumsy with his dress on.

Papa led them to the elevator, where JARVIS congratulated them too, “The building replica looks wonderful, and I’m supremely impressed, young Natasha and Matthew. I ran the calculations, and your work is within 0.1% of complete accuracy. And I highly suspect that slight inaccuracy is due to limitations of the materials used, not anything the two of you did.”

“If I could smile, I most certainly would.” He flashed a smiley face emoji on a panel of the elevator, and Natalia giggled while Tony’s special voiceover said “a smiling emoji has appeared on the panel of the elevator in front of you and one to the right.”

Matty nodded and giggled, himself, though wetly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I searched for three hours to try to find a bakery that sold Irish apple or dulce de leche cake in Hell's Kitchen. I could not find one, so you’ll have to pretend here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm so terrible at updating on time. Only one more chapter after this! :D I'll hopefully post it before Christmas, but no promises.
> 
> I hope winter is swell for all of you!

Natalia thought Matty was probably missing Peter. She could understand that. Whenever Papa was away, she missed him too.

She wrapped an arm around Matty’s torso, “I understand. It’s okay to be sad. It’s important to let yourself feel bad emotions,” she recited, having heard it many times from Papa and Bruce and SHIELD doctors and therapists.

The three of them left the elevator at Papa’s floor, Natalia’s arm still around Matty’s waist, when suddenly Matty crumpled to the floor.

Papa turned as soon as he heard Matty’s knees hit the ground and caught him by the armpits. Papa grimaced and helped the two of them to the ground. Matty had tears running down his face, and he was struggling lots to stay very quiet.

Papa leaned against the wall and tugged Matty into his lap and guided his head into Papa’s shoulder.

“Let it out, Matty. Letting your emotions out is good, and I’m so proud of you for letting them out. Everything will be okay. Peter will be back in a while.” Papa kept up his quiet talking as he rubbed Matty’s back.

Natalia went into Papa’s place and grabbed a plastic cup – she was only allowed to use plastic cups when she was little, and even though she wasn’t the one who was going to use it, she thought it still counted.

She filled it up carefully with cool water, only halfway so if she tripped it wouldn’t go everywhere. She learned that trick from lots and lots of tripping. And spilling.

Nat walked back out the door and sat down next to Papa. Matty was down to sniffling. When Nat sat down, he took his head away from Papa’s shoulder and tilted his head curiously.

“Water,” Natalia explained, holding the cup against Matty’s knuckles where they rested against Papa’s shoulder.

Matty took the cup and brought it to his lips, carefully taking a drink. “Thank you,” he whispered, voice tight.

Natalia hummed in response and leaned against Papa’s shoulder while Matty finished calming down. He sipped slowly at the water, staying close to Papa.

“Potty,” Nat whispered after she was sure Matty was okay, “Need to potty, Papa.”

Papa nodded and stood up, helping Matty up at the same time. “Is it okay if Matty chooses your clothes?” he asked.

Natalia hummed yes, and Papa said, “Matty, can you please get a pull-up for Natalia as well as a top and trousers while I help her go potty?”

Matty nodded, “Sure. Where is all that stuff?” As soon as Papa told him, Matty was off to her room. Papa turned to Nat and helped her up, then quickly helped her into his place and into the bathroom.

“Gonna take your trousers off, okay?” Nat nodded. “Don’t go potty yet. Wait ‘til I move your dress out of the way,” he said as he crouched down, grimacing, and got her out of her bottoms as fast as he could.

He lifted her dress up out of the way of the toilet, and she carefully sat down and released. It made her feel funny to have Papa see her go potty, but she needed help. And that was okay. Papa never hurt her, not on purpose, and he was always so gentle and careful, and helped her be clean and healthy and safe.

It also made her feel loved, for Papa to see her be icky, and help her be clean.

Once she finished, she signed “finished” to Papa, and he wiped her and kept her dress away from the toilet as she stood up.

Nat flushed the toilet, and then Papa and her washed their hands. Once their hands were nice and clean, Papa opened the door and smiled when he saw Matty standing there patiently.

Matty held out the requested items.

“Thank you,” Papa said, “You have some clothes on the couch in a cloth bag. Can you get yourself dressed, or do you need help?”

“I’m a big boy,” Matty said, “I can do it myself.”

Papa tilted his head, “I need help getting dressed sometimes, like this morning, and I'm a big boy.”

Matty thought about that for a minute, tilting his head from side to side. “Okay,” he finally said, “I don’t think I need help, as long as there is a way for me to feel which side is the back.”

“That makes sense,” Papa said, “You can go ahead and try to get dressed, and I’ll get Nat dressed, then we’ll find you and help you if you need it.”

Matty nodded and turned away to slowly walk to the living room. He left his cane by the door even though he needed it. Silly Matty.

Papa turned back to Natalia. “Time to get your play clothes on! Can I lift your dress up and take it off you?” he asked gently.

Natalia nodded, and Papa pulled it off carefully. Then he helped her put a super soft green shirt on. She didn’t even know she  _ had _ play shirts this soft! She wiggled her arms happily and whispered, “so soft!” in awe.

Then Papa got out the powder and carefully rubbed it between her legs before helping her into her pull-up.

Then he helped her step into soft green yoga pants and tied the string around her waist. “There! All done. Go put your sandals on, Natalia. I’m gonna go make sure Matty’s all ready to go.”

“Go?” Natalia asked him, head tilted slightly.

“Yes,” Papa replied with a wide grin on his face, “We’re going to the gym.”

Natalia clapped her hands happily and bounced on the balls of her feet. She spun around a few times and wiggled her rear in excitement. Then she ran off to put her sandals on.

She ran back to the living room, her sandals making her steps sound louder than usual. Matty was in black sweatpants and a black long-sleeve shirt. He was in the middle of putting his trainers on when she entered the living room.

“Matty, could you please watch Natalia while I change my clothes?” Papa asked. Once Matty nodded, Papa turned around to go to the bedroom, and Natalia gasped.

“Papa! You  _ must  _ get to the medical floor  _ right now _ !” she yelled, upset.

“What?” Papa asked, confused, “I don’t need to go to the med bay. Now let me get changed so we can go to the gym.” He walked quickly away and closed the bedroom door, snicking the lock into place.

“Your stitches, Papa! You’re bleeding. We need to go!” She pounded on the door. Papa ignored her.

Natalia went back to the living room. “Matty, Papa needs a doctor to look at his stitches. Help me get him there when he comes out?”

Matty nodded, “I smelled blood, but I assumed it was a paper cut or, or something. We can go to the elevator, and make it seem like we’re going to the gym. Once the elevator closes we can ask JARVIS to take us to the medical floor instead.”

Natalia nodded. That sounded perfect.

“If he figures us out before we get there, take his elbow- May I grab onto your elbow to show you?” He interrupted himself. Once Natalia hummed a yes, Matty grabbed onto her arm just above his elbow. “Like this. See how both of my hands are wrapped around, and locked together? Like that.”

“Understand,” Natalia said, and Matty immediately released his hold on her arm. As soon as he turned away to find his cane, she rushed to remove the knives and gun from her pockets. She might hang upside down and they might fall out.

Natalia stashed them all in a gap at the back of a bookcase, knowing she’d have to come back later for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't a particularly good chapter end, but bear with me! We're nearly through.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it's been like two months. Sorry about that, it's been ready, I just hadn't gotten around to posting. But here it finally is! I hope you enjoy :)

Right as Matty turned back around with his cane, Papa came out of his room. He looked wary, probably ready to fight her.

“You two ready to go to the gym?” he asked. Natalia and Matty enthusiastically nodded their heads, and he looked suspiciously at them. He led the two of them to the elevator and asked JARVIS to take them to the gym before the doors closed.

“No!” Natalia shouted, grabbing Papa’s arm like Matty showed her. “JARVIS, please take us to the medical floor first.”

Papa tried to leave the elevator, but Matty grabbed Papa’s other arm like she did, and JARVIS closed the elevator doors as he said, “Of course, young Natasha. I have alerted them you three will be coming, so they are expecting you.”

Papa groaned and cursed. “JARVIS, bro, why would you do this to me?”

“My records indicate a history of infections of lacerations for one Clint Francis Barton, aka Hawkeye. All incidents of infections have been caused by the stitches being torn or otherwise taken out.

“In the interests of the Avengers as a whole, my programming requires any request of you to seek medical attention be granted. You have arrived.”

The elevator doors opened and Papa groaned at the half-dozen doctors and nurses waiting for them.

“Welcome back, Agent Barton,” the short brunette said, her smirk more of a grimace, “You’ll be going to room four, unless you cause a fuss, in which case you’ll be admitted until you heal.”

“You’re really going through all this trouble for me?” Papa asked, trying to play it off cool.

Another nurse levelled a no-nonsense look at him. “You keep getting infections, and then you’re out of commission for longer.”

Papa groaned louder. “Fine. Fine, this is fine. Let’s get this over with.” Papa jogged to room four and got himself settled.

Less than ten minutes later, and Papa was all fixed up, and had a boot on, like when she broke her foot and SHIELD found out. If these were anything like SHIELD’s boots, if they came off, it would alert the on-call medics, who would rush to him.

So he would probably keep it on. Maybe that would help him heal better. She didn’t know.

What she  _ did _ know was that as soon as they released him, he herded Natalia and Matty back to the elevator.

“JARVIS, the Avengers Training Gym,” Papa said in his ‘I’m mad at you but I’m ignoring my anger’ voice, “Please,” he added after a moment.

“Of course, Agent Barton,” JARVIS replied as the elevator began to ascend.

Just a few moments later and the elevator doors were opening. Natalia ran to the rock wall, ignoring the ballet studio, the target practice area, the punching bags, and loads and loads of other equipment. The Avengers Training Gym took up an entire three floors, and the state of the art rock wall (which was made up of real rocks, sectioned into parts of the world, and able to be rearranged by JARVIS at a moment’s notice) went up the entire side wall.

“Papa Papa Papa!” Natalia shouted, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly, “Help?”

Papa grinned and led Matty to her.

While Papa was helping Natalia into her gym shoes, Natalia explained to Matty, “There’s a ginormous rock wall right ahead of you. It’s _ super high _ and goes up three whole stories! And JARVIS can change the rocks, and can even make up a bouldering course! And there’s lotsa different kindsa rocks from all over the world.”

“Alright Nat-a-tat-tat,” Papa interrupted, “time to get your harness on,” he held the loops of heavy-duty fabric out for her to step into.

Once Natalia had climbed in properly, with the aid of Papa’s shoulder, he did all the straps and secures up snugly.

“Test, JARVIS?” he requested. Natalia was hoisted a couple feet into the air and swung around for a few moments.

“Test complete. Agent Natasha Romanoff’s harness: 99.5% secured. Maximum safety reached. Agent Romanoff may begin the course if no adjustments are requested,” JARVIS said in a rather monotonous, though serious, voice.

“Thank you, JARVIS,” Papa said, gently patting Natalia’s bum. “Go ahead.”

Natalia nodded and jumped up to the wall to begin climbing in earnest.

“Clint, I’d like to try the rock wall too. Is that okay? Please?” Matty asked quietly.

“Sure,” Papa said, “You already put your gym shoes on so let me just grab a spare harness. While I do that, is it okay to put some music on? Natalia usually likes a mix of fast-paced music, and much of it is Irish.”

“Uh,” Matty paused to think, “Can I wear ear plugs, please? I’ll be able to hear good through them, but it won’t hurt.” Papa probably nodded, because Matty said, “Thanks.”

Then her mix was turned on, and Natalia wanted to clap her hands, but she was several feet over and up, and didn’t want to start over. So she wiggled her rear happily and returned to climbing in earnest while Papa found Matty a harness and attached it to him.

She made it up another six feet.

“Yes, it will hold,” JARVIS said suddenly, nearly causing Natalia to lose her grip, “I can activate my senary-a safety protocols, which will bring a series of soft mats below the wall, or my senary-b safety protocols, which will bring a foam pit. I could also activate my senary-fun-d protocols, which will bring out a trampoline below the wall,” JARVIS rambled.

There was a rumbling, and Natalia held on tight. She wasn’t in danger, but she didn’t want to fall so soon. She wanted to show Papa and Matty how awesome she was.

She glanced down for a moment and saw the big soft mats below the wall.

“Test complete. Mister Murdock’s harness: 90% secured. Maximum safety reached for a guest harness. Mister Murdock may begin the course if no adjustments are requested,” JARVIS said a few moments later.

Natalia got a further several feet before JARVIS said, “Test drop from six feet in three… Two… One.” There was a shout, and then laughter from Matty. And it sounded so amazing! He sounded so incredibly happy and she could hardly believe it came from him, except that only Papa was in the room with him, and Papa didn’t sound  _ anything _ like that.

Natalia looked back down and saw Matty climbing up the wall at a surprisingly quick pace. Much faster than he’d been walking just a few minutes ago. She put on her determined face and got going, refusing to let Matty catch up to her.

Except Natalia forgot to consider how her hands sometimes didn’t like her when she was little, and she ended up skidding down the wall a foot or so before JARVIS jerked her line away from the wall and locked the pulley system in her line.

“Agent Romanoff has been removed from the wall following a slip. Inquiry: are you okay?”

Natalia sighed dramatically before nodding and pointing back at the wall.

“Back to the bottom, or from where you were?” JARVIS asked. Natalia pointed again to the wall directly in front of her, and he obliged her, slowly allowing her line to return to its location before he pulled her away.

She was more careful, after that, even though she was slower. Matty passed her, climbed down, and passed her again on the other side before she made it to the top.

She forgot to feel ashamed, however, because she was having so much fun. For the way down, she quietly requested that JARVIS give her an easy bouldering course.

Matty shrieked when the wall began to vibrate, and he flung himself away from the wall, where he was halfway up the wall. The wall transformation stuttered for a moment as JARVIS pulled his line away from the wall so he was dangling in mid-air.

“My apologies, Mister Murdock; I am adjusting the wall to your right to a bouldering course for Agent Romanoff’s journey down,” JARVIS attempted to reassure him before following his protocol, “Mister Murdock has been removed from the wall following a push away. Inquiry: Would you like to be lowered to the floor?”

“Yes, please,” Natalia thought she heard him say. JARVIS slowly lowered Matty to the floor, where Papa quickly undid the clip to the rope and then helped him out of the harness. Papa wrapped his arms tightly around Matty, saying something in his ear.

JARVIS finished rearranging the rock wall for her climb down, “The wall is ready for your descent, Agent Romanoff,” he said. She nodded her thanks before turning around to get to work.

When she finally made it down, she was drenched in sweat and she had a smile plastered to her face. She jogged to the kitchenette at the middle of the gym and grabbed herself a sports drink to sip on as she walked over to where Papa was standing.

Once she reached Papa and he looked at her, he tsked, “You should know better, Natalia Alianovna.” He gave her the Disappointed Father Face that she was pretty sure every father everywhere knew.

Natalia was confused for a moment, until Papa handed her her adapter to turn bottles into sippies ([Link](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020123309/https://www.amazon.com/green-sprouts-Spout-Adapter-Bottle/dp/B004K6LMW0/ref=pd_sim_75_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004K6LMW0&pd_rd_r=83595696-d45c-11e8-90ac-9d9cfa22eccd&pd_rd_w=4TWuR&pd_rd_wg=dZmIJ&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=7AFXRG9GR083J1TWPJPH&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=7AFXRG9GR083J1TWPJPH.))

“Sorry,” she said, “Forgot.”

Papa lifted one side of his mouth, “It’s okay, Natalia. Just do better next time.”

Natalia nodded before handing the sports drink and adapter to Papa, “Help?”

Papa nodded and put the adapter on for her before handing it back. She nodded her thanks and returned to sipping her drink.

A few minutes passed, Natalia standing and allowing herself to cool down while Papa relaxed in a chair.

“Matty?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“Obstacle course,” he replied easily, nodding his head to the door in front of him. She nodded. That made sense. She then noticed Matty’s white cane leaned up against the wall next to the door.

Not long afterwards, Matty came running out, flushed and happy. He grabbed his white cane and rushed over.

“Clint! There is some type of noisemaker in every single piece of equipment!” Matty was bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands waving at his sides.

“Yeah?” Papa asked, “That’s so rad! The equipment that makes noise for sighted folks flashes for me.”

Matty’s jaw dropped. “No  _ way!  _ They considered multiple disabilities in the building of the obstacle course?” he near-shouted.

Papa grinned wide. “Hell yeah they did. Tony brought all sorts of disabled folks in to ask for help designing accessibility for it, and had them test it out. I have no idea what kind of accessibility is in there — never thought to ask, honestly – but I heard it’s wheelchair accessible, walker accessible, and crutch accessible. As well as deaf accessible, of course.”

Matty let out a happy sigh. “This is the most accessible place I’ve ever been.”

Papa’s smile dimmed to a grimace for a moment before returning. “I’m glad,” he said.

Matty then turned to Natalia, maybe noticing her for the first time, “How did your bouldering go?”

Natalia’s smile bloomed into a giant grin. “Perfect!” she shouted.

Matty nodded and smiled, “Good! Wanna do the obstacle course with me? We can do lots of stairs and slides. Maybe forwards and back?”

Natalia nodded, “Yes!”

“JARVIS?” Matty asked, suddenly shy.

“Obstacle course change in progress. Please wait,” JARVIS replied. Natalia took that time to run her empty bottle to the recycling bin. She got back just in time for the obstacle course door to open.

“Ready for participants,” JARVIS said from inside the room. Natalia ran to the room, Matty not far behind. She stumbled a moment and Matty nearly crashed into her, only stopping in time because his cane gently smacked against her foot.

“You okay?” Matty asked. Natalia just hummed yes and continued the last few feet to the room. Matty left his cane outside the door again.

The lights in front of them were too low to make out more than the vague shapes, besides spotlights telling them where to stand. She waited, standing on the balls of her feet, for JARVIS to let them start.

“In order, from closest to you to the furthest: roller slide with stairs, open wavy slide wide enough for three adults with a ladder, steep open slide with a rock wall, steep bumpy closed slide with a rope with a concave wall, and finally, a curved closed slide with a sheer wall, ten feet up.” As JARVIS spoke, the slide he was listing off lit up. There were two rows, one for each of them.

“Are you ready?”

Natalia nodded, and Matty probably did too, because JARVIS gave them a countdown before telling them to “Go!”

They ran off. Natalia stumbled up the steps and slid down the roller slide sideways, rolling as she hit the ground to her feet and running to the ladder ahead of her. She flung herself up it and rolled down the side, head over heels, laughing.

Natalia ran up to the rock wall and climbed her way up, remembering to be careful. She whooped when she went down the slide, landing cleanly on her feet. She grasped the rope for the next slide and swung her way up more than pulled herself up. The bumpy ride down was funny and made her giggle.

She ran back near the rope of the previous slide to have room for a good running start on the big wall and leapt up onto it, barely grasping the top of the wall with the tips of her fingers.

Natalia took a deep breath before slowly pulling herself up and swinging her leg over the top and rolling all the way onto the platform. She slid down the normal closed curvy slide, enjoying her ride down. Once her entire body was out of the slide, a green light flashed at the bottom of the slide, and she darted back up the slide with ease.

She dangled herself off the edge of the platform and dropped herself down before turning and running up the steep bumpy closed slide. Natalia used her upper back to help her get better traction to keep her from sliding back down. She made it up and grasped the rope and carefully rappelled down to the ground.

She ran to the next slide, a steep open slide, and jumped up onto it. She put her hands on either side to help keep her from sliding down, and slowly climbed her way up to the top. She slipped down twice, when she was nearly at the top.

Natalia cried out in frustration as she slid down before immediately going back up. On the third try she finally made it, and she turned around and carefully lowered herself part-way down the wall before pushing away from it and immediately turning to the open wavy slide. It was  _ so wide _ . She got a running start and didn’t even make it halfway before she slipped and slid down, fast. She noticed all the sweat on her hands and wiped them quickly on her shirt before trying again. And again, when she slid down.

Natalia took a moment to hmph at her feet, then her eyes widened. She pulled off her gym shoes and socks, put her socks in her shoes, and then her hands into her shoes. She went back to the previous slide and then got a running start. She finally got the whole way up, and she immediately grabbed a rung, after throwing her shoes ahead, and let herself fall over the edge and hang before dropping to the floor.

Natalia took a deep breath as she wiped her hands on her damp shirt. Then she took off running for the roller slide, and got all of three rollers up before sliding onto the ground with a soft  _ thump _ .

She tried several more times before she stood and glared at the slide. She stared at it, too, studying it. There  _ had _ to be a way up it.

“Ah!” Natalia shouted as she finally realised. She straddled the little barrier on the side, as uncomfortable as it was, and slowly caterpillar’d her way up it. She fell of the open side once, and the roller side twice, but the fourth time she made it to the top, and she stood and ran down the stairs.   


Papa was waiting there with another sippy bottle of sports drink for her, as was Matty, who was aiming a glare towards his own sports drink.

Natalia took a few deep gulps from the sippy before raising a questioning eyebrow.

“He wants to waterboard himself,” Papa explained.

Natalia covered her mouth with her hand and tried not to laugh. She’d done it to herself many times, and besides triggering herself, she also didn’t keep any of it down and ended up miserable (and attached to a saline drip several times for it).

Matty took a few slow, measured sips of his drink before turning to her. “I won,” he said, “But you did a great job, too. Which was the hardest one for you?”

Natalia thought for a few moments before replying, “Steep open slide. Roller slide was hard, but steep open was more. You?” Her voice was low and strained – gravelly — from all the exertion she’d been through that afternoon.

Matty chuckled, “The roller slide was the hardest for me. I didn’t know the barriers were there ‘til I heard you trying to climb up it,” he paused, “It sounds different. I think I was a slide ahead of you by the end? But I took my shoes and socks off and used my toes to grab the barrier and climbed my way up.”

Natalia grinned and agreed, “No shoes!”

“You took your shoes off too?” Matty asked, surprised. When Natalia hummed yes, Matty asked, “When?”

“Wide slide. More traction,” she replied, swaying her body side to side. She took a few more big gulps of her sports drink, and Matty did too.

“Where, oh where, can my Matty be?” a voice came singing from the main gym area.

Matty’s eyes went wide and he went running out of the room. Papa took Natalia’s hand and they followed Matty at a much slower pace.

They caught sight of Matty just in time to see him tackle Peter in a hug. “Spuddie!” Matty shouted.

Peter nodded, a smile lighting up his face, “You have a good afternoon?” he asked.

Matty nodded hard and fast. “So fun! I climbed the rock wall, all the way up and down lotsa times, and then I got scareded, and I didn’t like that, so I went to the obstacle course, and it was extra hard because there weren’t any smells or heartbeats or cloth moving but everything had noisemakers and I could hear it, and I didn’t need my cane, and it flashes for Clint, and it’s wheelchair accessible, and it’s so much fun!”

Peter grinned and lightly ruffled Matty’s hair. “Is that so? We’ll have to come back sometime then, huh.”

Matty nodded lots again before continuing, “Then I finished and Natasha was there and we decided to do a new obstacle course, and we had to do slides forwards and backwards, and I won, but almost lost, and it was so fun and I’m  _ so thirsty. _ ”

Peter hummed. “Take a drink, and when we get you back home, we’ll see about maybe getting Foggy to make soup. How’s that sound?” He looked ready to pull a prank. His face looked exactly like it. Natalia giggled.

Papa nudged her, trying to hide a grin himself.

“Good!” Matty said.

“Why don’t we thank Clint and Natasha for a fun time today?” Peter prompted.

Matty turned and ran over to where her and Papa were standing. He nearly ran into them, except Papa and Peter said “whoa!” at the same time, and Matty came sliding to a stop.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, ignoring them for a moment in favour of getting his cane. JARVIS helpfully directed him from inside the obstacle course room.

A few moments later, Matty was back, cane in hand and looking far more comfortable. “Thank you for all the fun! This morning was great, and the afternoon was  _ perfect _ . Thank you!”

Natalia wiggled and happily hugged Matty. “So fun!” she said as she let him go, “Thank  _ you _ !”

Matty smiled and nodded.

Papa said, “You’re welcome. I’m glad you came over. You’re incredibly fun to be around, and I hope you come back soon.”

Matty gave them both a big smile before saying, “Bye!” and dashing back to Peter, who waved and led Matty out.

Then Dada stepped out from a shadow Natalia didn’t even notice. She lit right up and ran over to him, ploughing into his arms.

Dada wrapped both arms around her, the metal one nice and cool around her.

“You have a good day, kitten?” he asked, a small smile on his face as he looked up at Papa.

Natalia nodded, “So good.”

“I’m glad. Are you ready to take a bath before supper?” Dada asked, letting her go but letting his flesh arm rest against one of hers.

Natalia nodded, and Dada took her hand gently and led her to the elevators, Papa trailing behind.

Dada helped her take a bath while Papa made dinner. Her bath was extra long, since she’d been sweating for hours, but she was finally clean and dressed in Dada’s favourite pyjamas of hers – full of cat’n americas ([Link A](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020122022/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LBBCLYE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_n5hQBbS8E44J1), [Link B](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020121920/https://patrex.es/post/173785942720))

He helped her shuffle tiredly to the table, where Papa was just laying out a chicken and vegetable soup. It was so yummy! Not as yummy as some of the stuff she had earlier, at the celebration, but it was still super yummy!

When she told Papa, he chuckled and said, “I’m glad,” and reminded Natalia to eat, because she forgot. She was  _ so _ tired.

When dinner finally ended, Dada helped her brush her teeth, then he and Papa tucked her in. She fell asleep long before they even got to her favourite part of the story.

* * *

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Other Cat'n America posts:  
> [ Link A](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020123654/https://patrex.es/post/179063797625)  
> [Link B ](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020123743/https://patrex.es/post/175185901300)  
> [Link C](https://patrex.es/post/168359568228) (video so archive saving is useless)  
> [Link D](https://web.archive.org/web/20180222143602/http://patrex.es:80/post/168296462450)  
> v not photos v  
> [Link E](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020124104/https://patrex.es/post/171700975935)  
> [Link F](https://web.archive.org/web/20181020124025/https://patrex.es/post/168803947090)
> 
>  
> 
> I have started a sequel, but I don't know that I'll ever finish it or publish it. If I do post it, I'll add a chapter here for a few hours, and include a link to the series in the chapter summary so it'll be in your email if you want to read it.
> 
> If you enjoyed it, please let me know (likewise, if you hated it, please tell me why). 
> 
> If there's anything you want me to write, just let me know - my inbox is always open on [my Tumblr](ryanthedemiboy.tumblr.com), and you can tweet me if you like as well ([my twitter](https://twitter.com/ryanthedemiboy)).


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